Downtown contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) is Egypt's only international multi-disciplinary contemporary arts festival that takes place over three weeks in March-April each year, at a multiple sites in Downtown Cairo. The D-CAF Blog: a healthy dose of the latest festival news and previews with exclusive photos and interviews. Meet the artists and curators bringing the best in music, film, performing and visual arts to downtown Cairo.Have your say! We welcome your comments and thoughts on this year 's edition.

D-CAF Goes to the City of Dead

D-CAF Goes to the City of Dead

City of Dead is a large collection of graves located by the Mokattam Mountains. Have no fear, however, D-CAF is here! Our Urban Vision artists are set to rock these umm, populous streets with their infectious energy during an unforgettable performance in D-CAF’s 6th edition.

Despite its strange setting, the area has developed over the years to become a true cultural backdrop at the heart of the city. It memorably features numerous people and workers living their daily routines among the dead.

Its foundations date all the way back to Egypt’s Fatimid era during the 7th Century. At the time, many people are rumored to have been buried alive in their confines there to follow in the footsteps of legendary Muslim commander, Amr Ibn al-Aas, who utilized the area as his family’s graveyard. The area’s legendary status has been built on bit by bit since then.

Indeed, the City of Dead’s unique location at the south of Cairo added to its intrigue, with many historic leaders continuing to utilize the area as a royal graveyard when ruling from the nearby Mokattam district.

The famed necropolis is now predictably considered one of Cairo’s more enduring tourist destinations. It features the shrined graves of revered Islamic leaders such as Prophet Mohamed’s grandchildren, Al Husayn and Sayeda Zeinab, as well as Sheikh Ali and Shagaret il Dor.

In recent years, the City of Dead was gorgeously renovated through a project spearheaded by architectural geniuses, ARCHINOS Architecture, with the company’s famous founder, Agnieszka Dobrowolska, at the forefront. As a designer who’s been working in Egypt for over 20 years now with projects that have been commissioned by renowned organizations such as the European Union and USAID, Dobrowolska leveraged her considerable experience to create a modern platform for the memorable location.

As a contemporary festival, we naturally couldn’t resist, and only found it fitting to include the historic venue in the 6th edition of D-CAF. Renowned artists will rock the memorable site with stunning performances that are sure to entertain and delight spectators in equal measure. Even a city of dead deserves to have some fun; wouldn’t you agree?

Check out Reem Khalid Allam​ our Executive Director at the Brighton Festival​ attending as a professional/delegate the Caravan Showcase 2018 supported by the British Council​ and Arts Council England​ !
#Festival#art#cairopic.twitter.com/optn…

Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) is Egypt’s first international multi-disciplinary contemporary arts festival.
The 6th edition of D-CAF (#DCAF17) will take place over three weeks from the 17th of March to the 8th of April 2017 at multiple sites in Downtown Cairo.
D-CAF will include local, regional and international music, theatre, dance, visual arts and film by cutting-edge artists from Egypt, the Arab world, and beyond. In addition to featuring established Downtown cultural spaces and theatres, D-CAF uses non-traditional sites such as historical buildings, storefronts, alleyways, and rooftops as sites for performances, events, and arts installations, with the aim of bringing audiences and performers to engage with the city in a new way.
With its diverse and first-rate programming, D-CAF aspires to become one of the most important annual Arab art events by reaching out to a broad spectrum of Egyptian audiences, creating bridges between Arab artists, international curators and programmers, as well as capitalising on Downtown Cairo’s unique cultural, social and architectural heritage. Furthermore, the D-CAF team seeks not just to bring the best in international contemporary culture to Cairo, but also to deliver a highly professional and well-publicised international festival.
Follow us on:
Instagram: @dcafegypt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DCAFEgypt
Press: www.dcafpress.com
Blog: www.d-caf.org/blog

A conceptual performance featuring a Documentary made in the year 2045, where the political conflicts have change the world to a degree where only memories and art remain... @Youness Atbane art revolves around a critical and burlesques relationship between art , actors and geopolitics.

Longing Fast Forward is a long-term sonic and visual examination of the speed of change and experience of time in Northern Greenland, summarizing the data and questions different forms of knowing and gaining knowledge about the environment.
Compressed into 11 hours of video.

Roznama studio Programme Medrar in collaboration with D-CAF continues until September in its own space with a intensive program of workshops, events, and diverse sessions designed for the 10 chosen emerging artists

Photo from Rotoscope/animation workshop by the Egyptian painter, illustrator and animator Ahmed Sabry